Hoard of the Dragon Queen
The Hoard of the Dragon Queen, sometimes shortened as HotDQ, is part one of two in the Tyranny of Dragons season. It is a campaign that takes players from level 1 to 7. The second part, The Rise of Tiamat, was released four months later, and leads players through levels 8 to 15. Disclaimer: The following adventure contains chromatic dragons. Wizards of the Coast cannot be held liable for characters who are incinerated, dissolved, frozen, poisoned, or electrocuted. Blurb Fight the war against draconic oppression in this adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game. In an audacious bid for power, the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerûn. To this end, they are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all those who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen. The threat of annihilation has become so dire that groups as disparate as the Harpers and Zhentarim are banding together in the fight against the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been so desperate. Table of Contents * Map: The Sword Coast * Introduction * Background * Overview * Episode 1: Greenest in Flames ** Character Hooks ** The Approach ** General Features ** Wandering Encounters ** Missions ** Map: Greenest * Episode 2: Raiders' Camp ** Tracking the Raiders ** The Camp ** Map: Raider Camp ** Rewards * Episode 3: Dragon Hatchery ** Map: Dragon Hatchery ** Rewards * Episode 4: On the Road ** Elturel ** Baldur's Gate ** Fellow Travelers ** Life on the Road ** Random Road Events ** Planned Road Events * Episode 5: Construction Ahead ** Waterdeep ** Northbound, Again ** Carnath Roadhouse ** Map: Carnath Roadhouse ** Tracking the Lord ** Grudge Match * Episode 6: Castle Naerytar ** Traveling to the Castle ** Castle Naerytar ** Squaring Off Against the Cult of the Dragon ** Approaching Castle Naerytar ** Inside Castle Naerytar ** Ground Floor ** Map: Castle Naerytar Ground Floor ** Second Floor ** Map: Castle Naerytar Level 2 ** Third Floor ** Map: Castle Naerytar Level 3 ** Beneath the Castle ** Map: Castle Naerytar Dungeon ** Rewards * Episode 7: Hunting Lodge ** General Features ** Castle in the Clouds ** Important Nonplayer Characters ** Through the Gate ** Outside the Lodge ** Lodge Ground Floor ** Map: Hunting Lodge Ground Floor ** Lodge upper Floor ** Map: Hunting Lodge Upper Floor ** Traveling to Parnast * Episode 8: Castle in the Clouds ** Map: Parnast ** Skyreach Castle ** Map: Skyreach Castle ** Concluding the Adventure * Appendix A: Backgrounds * Appendix B: Monsters * Appendix C: Magic Items Errata Introduction * Map: The Sword Coast: The map has received the following corrections, from top to bottom: ** "Nesme" is now "Nesmé." ** "Silvermoon" is now "Silverymoon." The city has moved west, under the "S" in "Silverymoon." ** Everlund now has a location marker, above the "l" in "Everlund." ** Triel has moved south, above the "co" in "Scornubel." ** Darkhold has moved south, west of the first "t" in "Sunset Mountains." ** "Iriabor" is now "Iriaebor." ** Easting has moved to the crossroads to the west. Episode 1 * Save the Mill: In the first sentence, "town mill" is now "town mill (area 4)." * Sanctuary: In the first sentence, "temple of Chauntea" is now "temple of Chauntea (area 3)." Episode 2 * Rearguard: The guard is now a veteran. * General Features: In the first paragraph of the "Tents" subsection, Azbara Jos is now in the list of characters who use the large tent. In the second paragraph, the guards are now veterans. Episode 3 * Cave Entrance: The last sentence of the second paragraph now reads as follows: "They then have a chance to surprise the dragonclaws." * Concealed Passage: The last sentence of the first paragraph now reads as follows: "Determine surprise normally." * Black Dragon Eggs: In the third paragraph, "a roper" is now "an unusual roper that can speak Common." * Frulam Mondath's Chamber: In paragraph after the boxed text, the second trunk now also contains a key to the chest in area 9. * Guard Barracks: In the first paragraph, the second sentence now reads as follows: "They maintain a two-person watch at the entrance (area 1); two dragonclaws are currently on duty in that area, and the others—three guards and eight cultists—are here, asleep or relaxing." * Rewards: In the bulleted list, the last item, which was redundant, has been cut ("For destroying or taking only two dragon eggs: 500 XP"). Episode 4 * Table: Trade Way Events: "The Golden Hind" has been replaced by "The Golden Stage," and "High Holy Day" has been replaced by "Payback." * No Room at the Inn: The assassins are now veterans. * Roadside Hospitality: In the last sentence, "the other two flee" now reads "the other one flees." * Encounters North of Waterdeep: In the second paragraph, "are at high readiness" is now "are being alert." Episode 5 * Strong Room: In the fourth paragraph, the DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check is now DC 10. * Map: Carnath Roadhouse: The unmarked area in the upper left of level 1 now has a door and is marked with a 7. The red door into area 3 has moved from the top of the stairs to the gap immediately to the left. Episode 6 * Castle Naerytar: The second and third sentences have been replaced with the following sentence: "As characters approach through the tunnel, any of them with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 10 or higher hears bestial voices ahead, growling and murmuring indistinctly in Draconic." * Map: Castle Naerytar Ground Level: The 5 is now a 6, and the moat is labeled as 5. The W has been replaced with a V, resulting in two V's on the map. * Lizardfolk Ready Room: The twelve lizardfolk are now twenty. * Map: Castle Naerytar Level 2: The H and the K have been transposed. * Specters' Sanctum: There are three specters, not six. * Pharblex's Sanctum: The following paragraph has been appended to this section: "Pharblex retires to this chamber to study two spellbooks, which he stole from area 2N. Dralmorrer Borngray and Rezmir would be furious if they learned the books were missing. One belonged to a 7th-level wizard and contains spells up to level 4, and the other was written by a 9th-level wizard and contains spells up to level 5 (you pick the spells). Being wizard spells, the magic is beyond Pharblex's ability to learn or cast; his lust for power is great enough to keep him puzzling over the text and hoping for a breakthrough." Episode 7 # Map: Hunting Lodge Ground Floor: A 12 has been added to the room in the upper right (the room to the right of area 13). # Map: Hunting Lodge Upper Floor: The map had three 18s. The top two have each been replaced by a 10. Episode 8 * Map: Parnast: The 6 and the 7 have been removed. Appendix C * Hazirawn: In the first paragraph, "If you are attuned" is now "If you aren't attuned." Category:Campaigns Category:Books Category:Tyranny of Dragons